怪談とポニー Ep2 - Factory Reset

“Awesome!” the mildly frustrated huff came out quiet but heartily, pretty audible for all Misty’s friends resting on the road shoulder. “Just when I thought that we planned everything…” Misty raised on the tiptoes and observed the surroundings as far as her eyes let her do. “Now, this is strange…” muttered she, not seeing any car in their direction or towards Canterlot, where they came from about half an hour ago.

“Yeah, normally there is more transport here on Friday noon,” sitting on her small backpack Windy Mane stretched, watching Misty walking back and forth a little. “Not today, I guess… Exactly, when some help would be quite handy. Well, that falls under Hoofry law!” chuckled the pegasus girl shaking her ginger mane – when Mother Nature designed her, she definitely forgot to add the ability to lose heart easy.

“Yet, I agree with Misty, this is way too strange!” her sister was more serious. Flaunty slowly unfolded the map with one hand, wrapping another around Lacy’s shoulders. “Let’s see…”

The earth filly nodded sleepily; Lacy Reins tiredly leaned her head on Flaunty’s shoulder, her eyes looked a bit unfocused.

“Hey, mate, you seem out of your plate!” Flaunty Mane let away the map and watched Lacy fixedly; upon a more careful look, Misty and Windy were to agree with their friend.

“I can’t help falling asleep…” Lacy pulled the knit turtle-neck collar; apparently, she misjudged the weather and was now suffering from that. “This sweater is too hot – I feel like I’m already boiling.”

“What’s the problem?” with a smile Windy glanced at Lacy from under the palm, squinting from the sunlight. “You just need to take it… Oh…” at a sudden guess, the pegasus girl stumbled and a light flush started covering her cheeks.

“Yeah, there is a certain problem!” Lacy focused on her meaningfully, then threw a glance at the bus and a small group of its passengers nearby. “I would change a while ago, if… There is a couple of shirts in my bag.”

“I can cover you…” both sisters blurted out simultaneously. “… with my…”

“…wings!” finished Windy Mane and even a brighter blush could come out genuine, if not spoiled by the sparks of anticipation in her eyes.

“Ahem…” Misty cleared her throat alternating between the girls; the unicorn filly dared to break the long minute of silence interrupted only by the chirping birds choir from the field greening at their feet. “Let’s get a bit away from the bus and we’ll help you change, Lacy…” in her turn, Misty was to admit that she barely struggled the wish to strip and lay on the grass sunbathing – the sun was overly warm for the spring afternoon.

“Back to our trouble…” the unicorn girl picked up her backpack and helped her friend back on her feet. “Look, mates, I didn’t insist on taking off shortly after classes for nothing,” she busily strolled along the road followed by the sisters supporting heated and softened Lacy. “We didn’t plan the road eating away half of the weekend. I thought we would reach Baltimare today, have some rest and get to sleep early… to reach the factory even before sunrise on Saturday. Wanted to check the maps once again, before we go in and stuff.”

“And now…” she took another look around from under her palm when the girls stopped a few dozen yards away from the bus towards the Canterlot direction.

Brightly lit by the summerly hot sun, despite it passed zenith a few hours ago, the fresh green field spread across both sides of the road as far as the eye could see. Not a single building or tree pierced the sea of grass or crops – it was hard to tell that early – only at the horizon framed by the darkening wood from the northeast and south and with sloping hills from the opposite side. The breeze smelling of dust and heated soil spread the sounds of birds choir everywhere, flooding the surroundings with lively chirping. A few small lark-like singers hovered high above the ground, fluttering their wings; the rest, less daring ones, accompanied them from the safety of vegetation.

Running through the deep blue sky, the scarce small clouds couldn’t provide any considerable shade, and even the frozen on the roadside bus couldn’t give enough, making their forced wait equally unpleasant inside and outside. Under different circumstances, Misty, as well as the other girls, would have appreciated the sun, the view, the peacefulness… Not when plans they had were about to get busted due to that unexpected stop.

Briskly running since they left Canterlot and passed the industrial outskirts, the bus jerked strangely and started to lose speed exactly when they distanced from the city suburbs and entered the seemingly endless flat cut in half by the road. The growing noise from below told the girls that the problem was serious; Misty had time to regret them not going to Baltimare by train when Lacy, almost as if reading her friend’s mind, whispered her the same idea.

The driver managed to stop the misbehaving vehicle on the road shoulder and climbed out. Unable to hear from their places, the girls still could guess his accolade towards the bus by stallion’s mimic. His partner followed shortly, carrying the tool case and joining him in front of the opened engine hatch. The bus was half occupied, providing enough free space, but when several minutes passed under the accompaniment of tingling and the puzzled voices, the passengers streamed outside one by one to stretch their legs and check out the delay reasons.

The closer look told everypony – they got stuck flat. Both drivers kept digging in the engine, dropping a curse from time to time; they already called for technical assistance from the city, but didn’t give up the idea to fix the “damned bolt-box”. Apparently, it couldn’t keep running to Baltimare either way, as Misty understood from the drivers’ talk.

“…and now all our plans are rolling into Tartarus!” concluded she throwing another glance towards the broken bus and a small crowd of passengers discussing what to undertake. Misty already intercepted a couple of stares from the colts, but thankfully none of them dared to approach the girls offering their help. Gaining too much attention was undesired. Yet Misty wasn’t sure if they succeeded, especially given the provided scene.

Windy Mane wrapped her wings around Lacy, completely shielding the latter from the curious sight, but still unable to hide how the girl pulled her sweater off over the head and hung it on Windy’s shoulder. Hiding a smile, Flaunty dug a jeans shirt from the depths of Lacy’s bag, handing it over the improvised feathery screen. All that time, her sister did her best to pull out an uninvolved mien, despite her noticeable flush; Windy almost buried her nose into Lacy’s hair, sniffing deep and making the girl twitch her fluffy ears from the tickling sensation.

“Thanks, dear. I finished!” Lacy finished buttoning her shirt and nuzzled Windy’s cheek tenderly. She was to raise on her tiptoes to reach and hold on to the pegasus girl’s arms a bit, looking still dizzy. Judging by Windy’s face, she was to breathe deeply and inwardly count to ten or maybe more to hold back her natural motion to snuggle her friend and return the nuzzle with dividends.

“So, what next?” Lacy started fixing her hair, which fluffed and ruffled a bit while changing clothes. Her firm breasts lifted the shirt, providing a very promising view, while the girl treated her braided mane musingly. Windy Mane bit her lip, observing the nearby field with exaggerated attention; Flaunty threw a laughing glance at the girls and winked to Misty.

“Well, ladies, we don’t have many options to choose from…” Misty Lagoon suppressed a smile caused by the so familiar scene; wasting her plans didn’t call for any amusement. “Only two…” She took another look across the road, wondering again nopony passed them in last twenty or about minutes: the dark band of roadbed snaked completely deserted in both sides, hiding behind the nearby hill in Canterlot direction. Confirming her growing suspicions, only undisturbed natural sounds reached the girl’s ears – if anypony was driving down that road, they were too far to be heard either. Misty shook her mane, shooing away the impression.

“First of all, we can wait for the next bus running to Baltimare and try to board it. They must go regularly enough for us not to lose much time… But…” Misty threw a meaningful glance at the herd surrounding their broken vehicle. “Judging by this run load, the next would likely appear the same. By luck, it may have a few spare seats, but we’re not alone on that trip!” the girl made a dry mien. “No way we can convince everypony we need some priority lift without revealing our goals, which I would prefer to happen the last if only.”

“Yeah!” Windy Mane smirked widely. “The next bus will stop next to that… if the driver finds it reasonable. And the whole herd rushes to occupy these scarce seats it may have – everypony has it urgent!”

“So, we have an alternative,” shrugged Misty, raising on her tiptoes again and observing the road turn persistently. “We can take some passing transport,” at these words, all the girls chuckled a bit ironically, “and return to Canterlot, taking another bus to Baltimare from the station, thus having guaranteed seats…”

“And losing time nevertheless…” added Lacy quietly.

“Exactly! That’s why I suggest doing the same but towards Baltimare to start with,” dropped Misty. Before any of her friends said anything, she added quickly. “Obviously, we need to walk towards Canterlot to catch a car first, before the rest getting the same idea. If anypony agrees to give us a lift that would be the fastest way, without our plans changing… much.”

“Will it be safe enough, that’s the question?” Flaunty looked at her friend pensively. “Especially considering that the run to Baltimare from here is way longer than to our city.”

“I thought about that,” Misty returned the glance slyly. “Of course, I’m not asking you, girls, to sit into a car of the obvious yahoo. Our bet is a single driver, visibly normal, with a transport spacious enough to fit us all yet reach the destination in one piece.”

“Come on,” she nudged the pegasus girl lightly. “The four of us are young, strong enough mares. I guess we can manage our safety in the light of the day, being fairly prudent.” Misty then sent an encouraging smile towards still pensive Lacy.

“That goes without saying, pal!” Windy exchanged glances with Flaunty and stretched a little. The girl parodied Misty, lifting on her tiptoes and observing the landscape from under the palm, drawling. “And I can see the long queue of these lucky drivers fitting our demands, Misty!”

Instead of an answer, Misty made a funny face and picked up her bag determinedly.

“Let’s move, mates!” she headed away from the immobilized bus. “Somepony must drive our way eventually!”

“Are you serious… about getting in the car of some stranger, Misty?” whispered Lacy, when she caught up with her lively pacing friend, leaving both sisters a couple of steps behind.

“Pretty much!” the good judgment could be read behind the girl’s seemingly nonchalant words. “Of course, there are wackos of different sorts, including the discrete ones…” seeing that it hardly made her friend relax, Misty hurried to add. “But we can surely tell the trouble when we see. I mean, nopony forces us to get into the obvious maniac wagon.”

She chuckled and pulled up her backpack, throwing a glance at the pegasus sisters.

“Come on, girls! I can almost see a few of our co-riders going to try the same as us,” with laughter Misty ruffled the hair, running her thin fingers through to cool down under the hot sun.

The light breeze ran past them in waves waking the green tide in the surrounding fields. The smell of motor oil was completely flushed by the one of heated grass and dry road dust. The mechanical noises and voices faded behind, so only the birds’ chirping accompanied the friends’ small talk. Slowly walking in that heat, the four girls managed to cover a quarter of a mile when the first car ran south past them. Following the appearing from behind the turn vehicle with the estimating eye, Misty shook her head lightly; however, even without that gesture, her friends realized that they were not going to test their luck.

That low, wide, black car looked utterly pretentious: one exactly of a kind when some mid-aged stallion desperately tries to look and behave as coltish as he can afford. “Personality problems of various kinds” might equally be written instead of the nameplate. The entire rear was tinted to the extreme; the bull horns on the hood looked almost laughable for that time and area. As the last straw breaking the girls’ wish to deal with the driver, his greasy glance slid across Flaunty Mane, who stretched hard, as the metal monster shot past them roaring with the straight-through muffler and raising a cloud of dust.

“Definitely, not our lift!” chuckled Misty, as Flaunty sneezed and disapprovingly huffed.

“Know what, I’d have rather played some beach volleyball with you this weekend instead of sweating here. As beach volleyball presupposes water and fun, pals!” noticed Windy; she made a face and blew raspberry over the shoulder. “Hmpf! What a jerk!” The girl unbuttoned her shirt and tied the edges into a knot under her chest, while Flaunty brushed the dust off her mane and gathered the hair into a ponytail.

“Hey, look!” Misty interrupted them suddenly; she pointed forward, where a long heavy-load truck taxied slowly from behind the hill, trembling in the veil of heated air coming from the road. Passing the sharp turn, it sped up spitting two clouds of denser exhaust from the vertical pipes behind the cabin; the deep bass roar of a well-maintained engine reached girls’ fluffy ears. “That seems to be more suitable,” Misty let out a smile.

“Can you really tell from here?” Lacy raised an eyebrow behind her round glasses.

“First of all, if the truck belongs to some respected company, its driver must be one of the most level-headed ponies we can meet on the road,” explained Misty intercepting her friends’ glances. “Some psycho wouldn’t stand a chance on that job,” giggled the girl. “If I were you, I’d have been rather afraid to be bored to death during the ride, as far as I know the truckers. We’re lucky if he is of a more communicative kind… double-lucky if he actually gives us a lift.”

“Hmmm?..” Windy Mane stared inquiringly at her unicorn friend.

“The cargo trucks usually follow the certain routes, not supposed to change them out of the blue,” elaborated Misty. “Besides, all of them are equipped with trackers nowadays. Thus it’s not even guaranteed that he stops and takes anypony.”

“Depends on the driver…” added the girl, following the approaching vehicle. “And as we see him, we can finally decide if we are fine with that ride.” With these words, Misty Lagoon walked on the inner edge of the road shoulder, outstretching her right arm and raising the thumb in the hitchhikers’ international greeting.

Truth be told, seeing the truck slowing down and taking to the right road shoulder was mildly surprising for Misty. She had no doubt that the driver noticed them, but the girl also knew that the truckers usually avoided taking any companions due to security reasons; even on long routes, going with a partner. Naturally, she didn’t expect it to turn out that easy: caught a ride and there it was.

Creaking with the gravel and letting out a huff of hydraulic brakes, the large cargo truck stopped. The girls mingled at the shoulder in confusion, so, Misty took it in her own hands, running around the truck cab; the driver already opened his door and looked at the girl with perplexity politely masked with curiosity.

“Anything I can help with, young lady?” the mid-aged stallion sounded friendly; his <…> eyes quickly sized up the unicorn filly from her boots powdered with the road dust to the tightly-packed backpack and to the attentive sight Misty replied with.

“Thanks, sir!” pulling up the backpack strap and throwing a glance at the friends cautiously peeking from behind the cab, Misty finally decided. “Yes… Well, our transport has got broken mid-road and… it doesn’t look as if it’s going to run again anytime soon.” She nodded left; following her sight, the stallion noticed the bus frozen at the roadside not far away. In the silence occasionally broken by the chirping from the field, the faint sounds of metal parts jingling reached their ears through the heated air.

“I know that it is most likely against the company rules or something,” Misty attracted his attention again. “But… we drastically need a lift to Baltimare, sir.” The light-brown eyes reverted to the girl’s face, the driver blinked.

“I wanted to take my friends from Canterlot to my birth city for the weekend… to show them the place and so on,” the girl started elaborating quickly. “We had certain plans… Eh, the main thing is we were to show up at my parents’ apartment by today’s evening. And now…” she spread her arms in an apologetic and helpless gesture. “Well, you see… we got stuck here without any bright perspective and definitely won’t arriving in time!” she let out a tiny smile watching the stallion, who bit his lip pensively, some decision getting ripe within.

“Okay! Worry no more, young lady!” he nodded in amusing seriousness, but driver’s eyes smiled. “Luckily for you, I’m on a relatively short trip to Paddoxandria; Baltimare is a bit aside of the route, but I think I can afford that.”

“Moreover,” the driver waved in a welcoming gesture towards the passenger door, “I’m going without the second driver today, so there is plenty of space even for a few passengers.”

Misty Lagoon already jerked up her bag and rushed around the cabin towards the unconfidently mingling girls nudging them towards the door opened by the stallion.

“He’s fine about the co-travellers! That’s our chance to arrive in time,” meaningfully whispered she, hurrying the fillies. “Come on, mates, get in!”

Without further hesitation, Flaunty Mane hopped on the footboard; she tossed her and sister’s bags onto the long back seat, then gave Windy a hand helping her to climb into the high truck cab. Windy pulled inside still dumbfounded Lacy with her usual large postman bag. Misty jumped and pulled herself in with both hands, entering last and accurately closing the door behind, when the pegasus sisters already settled down with all possible comfort on the back seat. She already noticed the tidiness of the truck, properly concluding that the driver treated the automobile with due respect, almost symbolic for the honoured tool of the trade.

“Thank you very much, sir! You have no idea how you’re actually saving us…” Misty turned to take a seat. The very moment the stallion picked up large binoculars from the passenger seat freeing more space for Lacy; he curled the strap around the bridge and put the whole thing into his door pocket to keep at hand.

“It may be useful to check the road ahead before you roll in,” following her glance with a smile elaborated the stallion. “You see it can be quite hard to turn the old lady around with the long trailer. By the way, you can call me Longhaul, for it is my name!” he tipped his seasoned but perfectly maintained grey wide-brimmed hat. Indeed, Misty noticed the badge, saying “Longhaul Hoofer” under smaller text with company name, on the chest of the driver’s tartan shirt with rolled-up sleeves.

“I’m Misty,” nodded the unicorn girl. “It’s been a pleasure… This is Lacy. Flaunty, Windy!” she nodded towards the sisters; Windy waved her hand with a wide smile.

“Hmmm… I heard the battleships referred to as females,” noticed Windy Mane musingly. “But cargo trucks?..”

“Well, this one has seen in her life more than some salted battleship!” with another smile, Longhaul stroked the dashboard lightly. “Believe me, she deserved.”

With that mysterious phrase, he released the brakes, revved the engine, and the huge truck slowly taxied back to the road, screeching with the shoulder gravel. Misty made a notice that the whole cabin had that feel of the owner’s accuracy and meticulousness. It wasn’t excessively decorated – like some drivers abused the common sense in favour of false individuality; it was simply clean and in perfect order instead. Everything was in its easily findable place, staying functional: the shades were simple serving their intended purpose, not decorative, the radio set told that its owner used it not only because it was “cool to do”, the maps didn’t clog the place, but were accurately folded in the driver’s door pocket, where the binoculars went. The girl noted that her eyes didn’t stumble on any noticeable junk in the cabin – the case rare for the majority of truckers. Everything told that Longhaul’s words weren’t simply… words, the stallion truly respected the vehicle he spent the lion’s share of his time in. Come to think of that, Misty remembered that the logistical company logotype wasn’t painted on the truck, it was instead pasted over the cab doors as large film stickers; Longhaul owned the truck, which got hired with its driver. The unicorn filly glanced at their driver with a different eye.

In a minute, they reached the bus, the small herd of the passengers and two drivers tiredly digging in the engine.

‘Sorry, folks, we really needed it!’ Misty Lagoon sighed inwardly, noticing a few jealous glances following their transport. Meanwhile, Longhaul reached the radio set under the dashboard. He clicked with something, already connecting with his control office and telling them to contact the Canterlot long-distance bus depot about route 250 getting broken and needing technical assistance somewhere between Canterton and Trotterton. “Nudging them once more won’t hurt,” elaborated he for the girls. “That’ll help the rest of the passengers continue the trip faster.”

“Yeah,” Misty looked at the receding bus in the mirror. “Our drivers requested the assistance, but it was a while ago… And the road seems deserted today.”

“That’s because it’s not the main highway in this direction,” chuckled Longhaul. “It’s not that well-kept, but still many use it for passing that part of the route faster.”

“Wasn’t our case today apparently…” muttered Windy from the back seat, making everypony laugh.

*

The truck ate mile after a mile on the hot dusty road; Longhaul closed the side windows and nothing disturbed the silence of the truck cab except the quiet rumbling of the engine and air conditioner rustling. Driver’s eyes were chained to the road ahead, alternating between the mirrors occasionally. A quick look at the speedometer told Misty that they were making a tiny bit faster than allowed on that road: Longhaul tried to compensate the unexpected route hook, or maybe he wanted to deliver the girls faster, impressed by their delay caused low spirits.

Chattering sluggishly, the girls deliberately avoided Baltimare in their talk – they didn’t want to reveal the details of their trip to a stranger, so discussing the real deal was problematic. Windy dropped off her snickers and sat cross-legged, leaning back and hiding in the shade of the cabin from the sun, which was still high now peeking in the side window from the cloudless sky. Flaunty observed the constantly changing landscape, watching their route and probably comparing it with some mental map; that made Misty smile inwardly – they could be confident about safety with such a guard.

Nodding sleepily, Lacy nested her head on Misty’s shoulder; the unicorn girl wrapped one arm around her friend’s shoulders and kept observing the roadside. They were to cover at least half the way, passing the tartan blanket of fields around Canterlot outskirts, then waves of grassy hills, more of the fields and small towns. Now the road entered the forested area, trees approaching almost the road shoulders and occasionally giving the impression of the green tunnel. Misty pensively watched the small birds fluttering along in the roadside bushes; she almost felt how the rest of the girls shared her concerns about their upcoming adventure.

“Don’t worry, young ladies, we’ll bring you to Baltimare in a reasonable time!” suddenly, as if reading their thoughts, Longhaul let out a smile. “And you’ll get plenty of sights and memories. There are several places of interest there indeed.”

“Have you been in Baltimare often?” Misty glanced at their driver.

“A few times, mostly passing by,” nodded the stallion. “The Horseshoe Bay is stunning during this time of the year, but whom am I telling that, you most likely start with it.”

“My father was born in Baltimare near the bay exactly,” Misty buried her nose in Lacy’s mane then added. “His old house is where my parents live now and the bay can be seen from there.”

“…the old Prison,” with a nod, Longhaul continued. “They opened it for the tourists again after some time-worn parts restoration…”

Windy snorted quietly from the back seat, but that didn’t put him out of countenance.

“I mean from the purely historical point of view,” chuckled Longhaul throwing a glance into the mirror. “Besides it has some peculiar architectural solutions…” Misty felt how Lacy perked one ear upon hearing the familiar term; Flaunty turned to them with pure artistic interest.

“… then there still is the old magical crystals refinery. I believe it has some… sightseeing value.”

Trying to keep her sudden concern restrained, Misty raised her eyes on Longhaul slowly, not to reveal the electrical spark which made her and the rest of the girls, including Lacy, strain at once.

“Didn’t it crumble to pieces yet?” noticed the girl casually; as much as she tried, she couldn’t notice anything not falling into the random talk pattern. That made her relax a bit.

“Don’t think so,” Longhaul shook his head. “Its ancient buildings will likely survive much longer than expected. I heard they had some problems lately, but I also heard they are still struggling.”

A long pause followed; Longhaul probably interpreted it as if the girls were still down about their almost ruined weekend because he turned to Lacy and Misty and said.

“Everything will be fine, girls. You’ve lost a couple of hours maximum, so don’t worry.”

“Never lose hope for the best! Sometimes things change and help comes, when you least expect, no matter if you think you’re having it hard,” added he with a strangely warm smile. “A fascinating story happened to me a few years ago. I can tell you if you don’t mind.”

The girls quickly nodded, partially enlightened by the talk going away from the sensitive topic.

The truck ate mile after a mile on the dusty road; leaving no discernible sign for the sight, the desert slid by, endlessly the same as far as the eye could see. The same low sandy hills, low crooked thorny bushes, occasional spots of dry grass and cactuses in a variety of forms and sizes. Opening the side window, the only smells one could catch were of heated metal of the truck and omnipresent dust. The working air conditioner increased the fuel consumption, but it was the only thing saving the driver from the long day heat. That’s why, when the dark, thick clouds started veiling the horizon and quickly spreading across the sky, the stallion had ambivalent feelings. On the one hand, the changing weather finally shielded the land from the flaming sun and the temperature began to decrease noticeably. That allowed him to lower the glass and turn the air conditioner off, thus saving the fuel, the level of which quickly approached to problematic. On the other hand, the clouds ate up most of the daylight; with the setting sun, it made another problem real – the landscape ahead looked completely unknown to him. Navigating in the approaching darkness was not only hard, it became dangerous. However, settling for the night in the middle of the desert wasn’t a smart choice either.

Especially in that area!

No matter how frustrating it was to admit, Longhaul Hoofer, the trucker with quite an experience, had lost his route. Maybe the first time for a long while, maybe even the first time in his life. Definitely the first time within such unpleasant circumstances and with such dangerous possible consequences.

Longhaul had no clear idea when he made a wrong turn or missed the right one. He was unsure if there were any sharp turns lately. The well-maintained highway slowly and insensibly turned into the older narrower road with the uneven cracked surface, then into a dirt road, before he felt something was wrong.

With annoyance slowly painting into light panic, he drove forward for a couple of hours on the straight as an arrow path, thankfully still clearly discernible from the desert around. All that time, he couldn’t notice any spot for turning the long cargo truck around to try returning to the place things went wrong. Performing a U-turn on the narrow road with the uneven sandy shoulders was dangerous: the long heavy trailer wouldn’t allow doing that safely. Needless to say, turning into the desert in an attempt to get back on the highway wasn’t an option. Turning over the trailer would become fatal not only for the cargo Longhaul was concerned about but for the stallion’s own life.

Peering into the road ahead, Longhaul was to admit – he couldn’t recognize the surroundings; he had a map but could hardly position himself on it at that moment. Strangely the tracking system couldn’t catch the signal for a while.

The worst thing was that his route went along the south border of Equestria. And every self-respecting pony knew what that meant. Even despite the armed conflicts were long history, the relations with the Changelings Kingdom were still strained to say the least; small gangs of changelings were common along the southern border. The scoundrels didn’t find guts to attack cities and towns, well-protected farms of Appleloosa and transport on the federal roads, but lost travellers, vehicles amidst the desert and smaller settlements often became the prey, the bug-asses felt their duty of honour to bite on. Coming across a few of them here would definitely mean saying goodbye to the goods he transported. In case of extreme misfortune, they could even damage his truck; not saying it would be as if they hurt Longhaul himself, depending on the severity it could easily turn out deadly for the stallion.

The uneasy feeling grew with the clouds covering the entire sky and darkness quickly falling around. A couple of miles more and the truck rolled into the night. Longhaul was to slow down a bit to keep safe in the low visibility conditions, but occasionally it seemed that they weren’t moving at all in the dark dusty haze. The bright headlights cut the darkness and lit the endless road ahead, sometimes it felt as if the truck was standing still and the desert flew under the wheels like some crazy treadmill. Longhaul shook his head to dispel the illusion; he was to stay sharp to reach his destination no matter what. Truth be told the last hour panic became almost a palpable companion in this ride across the dark unknown land under the cloudy starless sky. He started to think that he wasn’t diligent enough in his usual prayer to the Higher Powers of Equestria, asking for guidance and protection during the journey.

After a while, Longhaul started to think that he entered the highway directly to Tartarus; the gas needle trembled dangerously close to “E”, when he fancied some light in the void, spreading where the truck headlights were unable to penetrate.

The spark of light lied too low to be an occasional star peeking through the cloudy blanket and with the new hope Longhaul stomped harder on the gas pedal. Every sign of civilization, except some changelings’ camp (however, Longhaul was sure that he was still on the equestrian side of the border), seemed a better variant than spending the night amidst the desert. Besides, with the temperature falling even lower, almost without gasoline, the trucker didn’t have any feasible choice.

To Longhaul’s sheer bewilderment, the approaching light source turned into the small gas station accompanied by seemingly a workshop; Longhaul couldn’t tell in the shadows. A well-lit truck parking made him stumble at the inscrutability of the happening. Still not entirely believing his eyes, the stallion stopped his car at the nearest dispenser. The ajar door let in so common and familiar smell of motor oil and something thin ephemeral, Longhaul couldn’t easily tell.

The night shrouded everything behind the borderline of the lit area: in the middle of it, Longhaul couldn’t make out a thing behind the line where the light gave up to the darkness. However, that place had electricity, light and the dispensers were operational as far as he could judge. Putting on a jacket – the nights were quite cold in the desert, Longhaul climbed out of the truck cab. There was nopony around, from his position Longhaul could easily observe the whole illuminated space; his truck seemingly was the only vehicle present, but before taking a look around the stallion locked the truck. Just in case!

The first and probably only living soul he came across sat above the large thick book behind the brightly lit checkout window. She probably sat that way for quite a while: the young dark blue unicorn mare almost nodded sleepily over the pages. She supported her forehead with the hand and even darker hair flowed between her fingers streaming from under the large stetson hat, down her shoulders and the flannel checkered shirt with rolled-up sleeves.

Trying his best not to startle her, Longhaul cleared the throat carefully. One night-coloured velvet ear perked turning to him.

“Ahem… Good… night, miss!”

The girl raised her eyes on Longhaul, deep, even darker than the rest of her colours; it seemed the whole galaxies of stars floated into them. The stallion felt as if an electric discharge ran through him, but at the same time, the feeling of warmth and safety enveloped him for the first time since he lost his route in the desert.

“Good night, mister Hoofer! What can I help you with?” her nose twitched funnily and the light blue lips curled in a smile revealing perfect teeth.

“I’m almost out of gas, miss. And… as shameful as it sounds, I lost my way through that desert… Eh! How do you…” stumbling mid-phrase the thunderstruck trucker stared at the unicorn girl.

“It’s written on your badge, mister Longhaul Hoofer, isn’t it?” letting out silvery laughter, she smiled even wider. “So?..”

“Well… I mean… Yes, it is, but…” Longhaul felt entirely lost at the moment, but not in the desert per se. “Ehhh…”

“Okay! First – the gasoline,” mercifully giggled the young mare, “then we’ll try to determine your position in time and space.” The bookmarked and closed book said something physics-related on its cover as Longhaul could catch.

“I’m combining work and studies,” with a smile the mare followed his glance. “How much do you need?”

Telling the volume and paying, Longhaul watched the short precise movements of her long delicate fingers like enthralled.

‘Where from such a filly can appear here, in the middle of nopony-knows-where?’ spun in his head chaotically. ‘Where from and how?’

“Is it safe enough to stay night shifts here alone?”

“Oh, believe me, it is,” the unicorn girl chuckled silvery again. “It’s relatively calm here, the city isn’t that far and that booth…” she raised one brow meaningfully. “That booth needs a tank to run it over.”

“Still… the border is near and the changelings…”

“I’m alone here for a few hours only, the mechanic comes early in the morning,” elaborated the girl. “Besides, the police patrols the road to the nearest city from time to time. But, thanks for your concern, mister Hoofer!”

Longhaul slowly shook his head with visible doubt.

“Well…” the mare pulled him out of the thoughts.

“The gas!” reminded the unicorn beauty, when the stallion glanced up at her. She looked at him with the friendliest expression possible, one eyebrow lifted slightly.

Showing the dispenser into the neck of the gas tank and feeling his ears still flushing, Longhaul picked the map from the door pocket. He unfolded it under the lamp at the checkout window, when he heard a click behind the small building.

The crackling gravel told him that the girl left her post; in a moment, she showed up from the corner, revealing her lower part presented by shapely hips in tight-fit jeans and high leather boots. The latter appeared a smart choice in the place where rattlesnakes were common.

“So,” the girl peeked into the map over Longhaul’s shoulder. Studying it for a moment, she poked the delicate finger with the light blue nail into the Y-shape crossroads Longhaul suspected the least. “Here we are exactly!”

“Almost at the border…” drawled Longhaul, feeling his skin crawling under the shirt and warm jacket. “I was going that way for about three hours!” he waved, showing the direction.

“Five miles more and you would have crossed the border, mister Hoofer,” this time her silvery voice was meaningfully serious; the bottomless eyes glanced, telling the possible outcome wordlessly. “Not to mention that the road becomes dangerous, way worse than here.”

“There is another road behind the station,” the girl touched his shoulder lightly, gaining Longhaul’s attention and pointing the way for him. “Ten more miles on it and you shall reach Los Pinatos. There you can continue your route entirely safe.”

“Sorry?..” Longhaul emerged from his thoughts and blinked. A moment before he raised his eyes to the sky and froze that way for a while. As if by some magical effort, the storm clouds passed, the receding stripe of thunderstorm front headed north; rare bolts of lightning ripped the sky in the distance – the thunder barely reached Longhaul’s ears. Where they were, the sky cleared and turned into the deep black velvet encrusted with myriads of diamonds and one large opal – the moon on star-woven skies. The girl’s voice made him finally close his mouth and return to the mortal land.

“Ten miles northeast from here,” she waved her hand, dousing him with faint lavender aroma, “and you’ll reach Los Pinatos…”

“Oh… Yeah…” Longhaul blinked several times more as if waking up. “Thank you, miss!”

“Not a problem!” smiled the night-coloured girl. “If you need anything more, I shall be where expected.”

With a long puzzled look, Longhaul watched her returning to the booth with her graceful confident gait, then headed back to his truck cabin. After a short estimation, he decided to spend the darkest night hours in the harmony-given safety and parked the truck under the bright lamp on the small parking lot. Leaning back on the driver seat and almost dozing off, he smiled, seeing the lit window and the dark-haired silhouette over the book again.

The morning met him with the dense fog. Apparently, some rain still fell at their place at night, the temperature fell even lower and the mist was clinging to the cabin glass condensing and rolling down in large droplets. Longhaul woke quite early; the sun didn’t yet show up from the horizon and twilight covered the surroundings, making the foggy landscape even more surreal. For a moment the trucker tried to recognize where he was, remembering the recent events which started seeming a part of some weird dream.

The opened door told him that everything last night was real: the long sheets of fog swirled between fuel dispensers and roof-supporting columns, fruitlessly trying to reach the metal wetly glistening frame. Lamps were still on, throwing long thin rays of light in the humid air and floating like jellyfishes on the ends of their mist-flooded posts. Cringing from the morning chillness, Longhaul pulled on his jacket and climbed out of the truck cab to take a better look at the suggested road.

He walked around the locked booth, automatically noting for himself the shuttered but still lit window; the mental image of the unicorn girl studying till late night then falling asleep using the free hours made Longhaul smile. The road was indeed behind the buildings, old and weather-beaten, almost the dirt road. The stallion thought that if not being told about it, he could easily miss the road, simply passing by.

Another strange thing was the transport or better say lack thereof: Longhaul couldn’t see any car behind the station, his truck was the only one on the parking.

‘How did she come to work? And more importantly, how will she return home?’

Some tingling noise reached his ears coming from the workshop; the mechanic arriving at his daily duty was the natural guess. However, Longhaul decided to check and headed back to the entrance. The workshop doors appeared open, he probably simply missed that earlier; behind the black spot of a car, somepony moved the tools and parts on the racks putting them in order.

‘Perhaps they use the same car…’ beamed in Longhaul’s head.

“Hello!” he called just in case.

The dark silhouette turned around and waved to Longhaul, in the hangar twilight he could see only the general contours in the coveralls. Everything looked fine.

“Ermmm… I’m leaving,” before the mechanic interested what was needed, Longhaul explained. “Already out of my schedule, so… Could you please… thank the refueller lady for me?”

The mechanic nodded, flashing with a bright smile and waved once more a goodbye.

Starting the engine, Longhaul quietly taxied from the gas station not to disturb the locals at such an early hour; the girl could have a deserved rest – it didn’t look that there were frequent guests at that place.

Mile after mile, but he was still driving through the desert, covering more than ten miles already. Longhaul had no idea what to think about all that: maybe he heard her wrong, or maybe the girl made a mistake telling him the distance. Nevertheless, he kept driving the shown way, trying to stay optimistic. The filled gas tank contributed to that feeling a lot.

The road, however, became better and better pronounced, when with crackling, his truck crossed the gravel stripe, passing the edge of ongoing road construction. The tires hummed evenly on the freshly laid asphalt, a few road signs fled by as the cargo truck sped up guided by the suddenly smiling stallion. It was about 40 miles from that gas station, according to the speedometer, when some city showed up ahead. The road turned into a properly maintained highway long before that moment…

“…your storytelling. Come on, Longhaul!” chuckled one of the stallions. “I’m not the first year on the road either and know the region well enough.”

Except for Longhaul, there were a few truckers in company uniform and a dispatcher in the driving control office. The stallions chuckled, exchanging glances and even the old dispatcher hid a smile.

“What I mean, there is no gas station in the area you’re most likely talking about,” continued the talking driver. “As far as I know there is nothing at all, except cactuses and sand… And… it needs quite a strange mass of cactuses to mistake for a gas station… let alone for a pretty refueller girl!” he winked, causing another burst of laughter among the truckers.

“No offence, Longhaul!” another driver patted him on the shoulder. “We know you long enough – you talk no shit usually. But the whole thing seems… strange. Where, you say, was that station exactly?”

“Okay, laugh as you wish,” Longhaul jokingly gloomed. “But I know what I saw with my own eyes. Wait!” he rushed to the cabinet with maps, picking one and returning with it to the large table.

“Let’s see…” drawled he unrolling the large map and leaning over it. “South-west from Los Pinatos,” recalling the city he finished his adventure in, muttered Longhaul, “about fifty miles. Ah, there it is!” he pointed the finger at the Y-shaped crossroads.

“Hmmm…” the stallions leaned closer, examining the map, then one of them raised his eyes at Longhaul. “That doesn’t change the fact that there is nothing at that crossroads, except the crossroads itself.”

Longhaul blinked, staring at the map – the crossroads he pointed at was indeed empty, no infrastructure objects present; then he shifted the sight a bit lower and froze.

“One thing certain,” meanwhile, the fellow trucker continued. “You are very lucky, mate! That crossroads was made to leave the old road towards Badlands, they finished bringing it in order not long ago. The old one can be safely named ruined, a bit further… and if you kept driving it at night, you’d have been officially screwed! Falling right into changelings’ claws or crashing on that wreck of a road instantly.”

Suddenly Longhaul felt simultaneously hot and cold: sweat came out on the back while he kept examining the area on the map; Longhaul automatically began to pull off his jacket. It hooked on something and didn’t want to come off. Struggling with the frustrating obstacle, Longhaul stared down at the caught by the jacket seam name badge on his shirt chest.

“So… You want to say that the gas station somehow appeared where nothing was before and nothing stayed after…” Misty Lagoon kept biting her lip musingly. “Mister Hoofer?”

The cargo truck stopped at the highway pocket, so Longhaul could drop the girls delivering them right to the outskirts of Baltimare as promised. A narrow street of cottages hiding in the foliage of the gardens went below parallel to the main road and a bus stop could be seen from their spot. One would need to go down the highway shoulder using the specifically built stairs, cross the grassy buffer zone and made a few yards along the street. The landscape ran downhill from the road turn, revealing the gradually increasing number of storeys architecture on the left towards the city centre and the deciduous forest waving its branches in the soft evening breeze on the right. Shining its smooth blue lens in the light of setting sun, the Horseshoe bay lay far ahead, behind the green mass, separated from it by the narrower stripe of inhabited area. Rare roofs shimmered there between the trees.

“… or the unicorn girl there was…” Misty wanted to clarify everything, as usual. She and Lacy checked the seat, ensuring that they left nothing.

“I may build assumptions, many of them, or may not,” Longhaul let out a smile. “But that doesn’t change the general sense of the story. Fact is – I have more than one piece of evidence that help comes to those who need it and hope. And… she did know my name before anything or anypony had time to tell her!” he glanced at the girls meaningfully.

“Maybe you are right, mister Hoofer!” chuckled Windy Mane, picking her backpack and jumping out of the cab. “Anyway, let’s hope everypony succeeds in their endeavours.” She lent her hand to the sister, helping her get outside.

“Thank you very much, sir!” the girls waved Longhaul goodbye and started accurately descending the steep narrow stairs. The truck was still standing in the highway pocket when they walked in the shade of lindens towards the bus stop down the street.

“What do you think?” Flaunty Mane looked over her shoulder, even if she couldn’t see the road through the trees.

“I don’t know,” Misty shook her head slowly. “It seems he truly believes in that story…”

“Truth or lie, it brings no advantage to anypony, definitely not to mister Hoofer,” Lacy Reins noticed, adjusting her glasses. “So it may easily be the truth.”

“Hey, a bus!” Misty perked up, throwing a glance at the route board. “This will bring us where we need. Come on!” She pulled the girls towards the opening doors.

The cargo truck didn’t hurry away indeed. Digging in the door pocket for a second, Longhaul fished out the binoculars and watched the four friends walking down the street, boarding the city bus and departing. His eyes followed the bus cruising the narrow suburban streets, while it was possible, then took out a phone and dialled a number.

“Yes. On their way,” Reported he after some question from another end of the line. “Their bus got broken, so I was to give them a lift as planned to back up their… mission.”

“…”

“No. They seem overly inspired by their plans rather!” he let out a smile, invisible but audible for his collocutor.

“They have quite a nice cover if I may judge,” the stallion scratched his nose. “Doing fine so far.”

“…”

“Anything else?” after an answer, Longhaul nodded, starting the engine finally. “Well. I’m on my own route from that moment. Good luck, boss!”